A method of automatically generating a calibration file for a card handling device comprises automatically generating a calibration file stored in memory of a main control system for a card handling device. Automatically generating the calibration file comprises identifying at least one parameter associated with a rank area around a rank of at least a portion of the card, identifying at least one parameter associated with a suit area around a suit of the at least a portion of the card, and storing the at least one parameter associated with the rank area and the at least one parameter associated with the suit area in the calibration file. Additionally, a method of automatically generating deck libraries for one or more decks of cards comprises automatically generating a plurality of master images for the cards of the first deck type using the parameters from the calibration file.

An automated playing card, shuffling and dealing device in turn shuffles and in turn deals playing cards of two playing card sets, includes two card slot assemblies each disposed with a shuffled card box and a dealt card box. A control unit controls a dealing element to align with the playing card set in the shuffled card box of the card slot assembly at a card drawing position, sequentially draw the cards in the playing card set, and move the uncovered cards to the corresponding dealt card box. Meanwhile, the control unit controls a shuffling machine to align with the playing card set in the dealt card box of the card slot assembly at a card shuffling position. After the dealing process is complete, the control unit exchanges the positions of two card slot assemblies. Accordingly, shuffling and dealing in turn are completed in an uninterrupted and automated manner.

An outer plastic tube has water connections through the wall into an annular space defined by an O-ring spacer-gasket positioned between the wall and the perimeter margin of an inner cylinder rolled from a single-layer of sheet metal. A metal drainpipe with a removable bullet-shape at one end is forced through the cylinder to expand it and to thereby compress the gasket sealing the annular space. Thermal contact conductance is increased by the compressive force of water pressure. Water flow through the heat exchanger is both annular and turbulent to optimize heat transfer.

Disclosed is a housing for electronic/electrical that includes an inner panel and an outer panel, a strip of metal plate, and a strip of shape memory material. The inner panel and the outer panel are disposed parallel to each other at regular intervals to define an internal space. The strip of metal plate extends from an inner surface of the outer panel. The strip of shape memory material extends from an inner surface of the inner panel and is attached or detached to/from the metal plate on the outer panel while changing into an original straight shape or a bent shape according to a temperature variation. Here, when the temperature increase beyond a first transition temperature, the shape memory material straightens to form a heat transfer path. At a low temperature environment, the shape memory material bends and is separated from the metal plate to interrupt the heat transfer path.

A heat exchanger for transferring heat between two fluids consists of a shell surrounding at least two tube bundles attached at both ends to a tube header. Each of the tube bundles is constructed from a plurality of individual tubes that are twisted into identical helixes formed about a common helical axis. Because each individual tube is formed in the shape of a helix, rather than as a straight tube, thermal elongation of the individual tubes results in a considerably reduced axial force on the tube attachments and tube header. Use of multiple tube bundles wound with opposite twist direction improves spacing efficiency between tubes.

A heat sink adapted to dissipate heat from a heat source includes a heat dissipating unit that includes at least one deformation portion protruding toward the heat source, and a reflective surface formed on the deformation portion and facing the heat source for reflecting radiant heat from the heat source. A case including the heat sink is also disclosed.

Integrated heat spreaders having electromagnetically-formed features, and semiconductor packages incorporating such integrated heat spreaders, are described. In an example, an integrated heat spreader includes a top plate flattened using an electromagnetic forming process. Methods of manufacturing integrated heat spreaders having electromagnetically-formed features are also described.

A switch-scanning circuit includes a chip and switching units. The chip includes pins having an output operation mode and an input operation mode, and a processing unit. The processing unit sets one of the pins as an input pin and the rest of the pins as output pins sequentially according to a clock signal, uses a scan signal to provide different voltages to the output pins, and then determines states of button switches according to a voltage of the input pin. The switching unit includes a power source resistance, switches and resistors. A first terminal and a second terminal of the power source resistance are electrically connected to a power source and a first pin respectively. The resistors have terminals electrically connected the first pin and terminals of the switches. The other terminals of the switches are connected to the pins other than the first pin.

For continuous-time multi-stage noise shaping analog-to-digital converters (CT MASH ADCs), quantization noise cancellation often requires accurate estimation of transfer functions, e.g., a noise transfer function of the front end modulator and a signal transfer function of the back end modulator. To provide quantization noise cancellation, digital quantization noise cancellation filters adaptively tracks transfer function variations due to integrator gain errors, flash-to-DAC timing errors, as well as the inter-stage gain and timing errors. Tracking the transfer functions is performed through the direct cross-correlation between the injected maximum length linear feedback shift registers (LFSR) sequence and modulator outputs and then corrects these non-ideal effects by accurately modeling the transfer functions with programmable finite impulse response (PFIR) filters.

An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is a device that can include a reference shuffler and a loop filter. An ADC can achieve better performance with incremental adjustment of a pointer of the reference shuffler, changing coefficients of the loop filter, and storing calibration codes of the ADC in a non-volatile memory. By incrementally adjusting a pointer of the reference shuffler, a calibration can be performed more efficiently than with a random adjustment of the pointer. By temporarily changing the loop filter coefficients, a greater amount of activity can be introduced into the loop filter. This activity can allow the calibration to proceed more efficiently. By storing the calibration codes in a non-volatile memory, a search space for calibration codes can be reduced. Thus, a calibration can occur more quickly, and the calibration itself can be improved.

A flash analog-to-digital converter (ADC) includes comparators that convert an analog input signal to a digital output signal. Offsets of these comparators introduce noise and can hurt the performance of the ADC. Thus, these comparators are calibrated using calibration codes. Conventional calibration methods determine these calibration codes by removing the ADC from an input signal. Otherwise, it is difficult to distinguish the noise from the signal in the calibration measurement. In contrast, an embodiment can determine the calibration codes while the ADC converts the input signal to a digital signal. Such an embodiment can be achieved by a frequency-domain technique. In an embodiment employing a frequency-domain power meter, an input signal can be removed from the power measurement. This removal enables accurate measurement of in-band noise without having the measurement be corrupted by input signal power.

Method for producing a uranium concentrate in the form of solid particles, by precipitation from a uranium-containing solution using a precipitating agent, in a vertical reactor comprising a base, a top, a central part, an upper part, and a lower part, the solid particles of the uranium concentrate forming a fluidized bed under the action of a rising liquid current which circulates from the base towards the top of the reactor successively passing through the lower part, the central part and the upper part of the reactor, and which is created by introducing a liquid recycling current (flow) at the base of the reactor, said liquid recycling current being tapped at a first determined level (A) in the upper part of the reactor and sent back without settling to the base of the reactor, excess liquid being also evacuated via an overflow located at a second determined level (B) in the upper part of the reactor; a method in which the upper limit (C) of the fluidized bed of solid particles is controlled so that it is positioned at a level below the first and second determined levels.

The present invention relates to means and methods for producing crystals or crystalline substances. In particular, crystals or crystalline substances which are useful as pharmaceutical ingredients can be manufactured.

Disclosed herein is a method of fabricating a CIS or CIGS thin film, comprising: forming, on a substrate, a seed particle layer comprising copper-indium-compound seed particles comprising copper (Cu); indium (In); and at least one selected from the group consisting of gallium (Ga), sulfur (S) and selenium (Se),applying, on the seed particle layer, a water-soluble precursor solution comprising: a water-soluble copper (Cu) precursor;a water-soluble indium (In) precursor; andat least one selected from the group consisting of a water-soluble gallium (Ga) precursor, a water-soluble sulfur (S) precursor and a water-soluble selenium (Se) precursor, and forming a thin film at high temperature.

A method of processing bundles of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Bundles of CNTs are put into a solution and unbundled using sonication and one or more surfactants that break apart and disperse at least some of the bundles into the solution such that it contains individual semiconducting CNTs, individual metallic CNTs, and remaining CNT bundles. The individual CNTs are separated from each other using agarose bead column separation using sodium dodecyl sulfate as a surfactant. Remaining CNT bundles are then separated out by performing density-gradient ultracentrifugation.

Mineral, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, agricultural, nutraceutical, and other compositions are produced using a mineral composition containing minimal concentrations of cadmium, lead, arsenic, and mercury and containing relatively high concentrations of micro and macro mineral elements, of rare earth elements, of calcium, and of silica. The mineral concentrations are produced by processing naturally occurring clay soil to concentrate mineral elements naturally occurring in the soil.

Highly compactable granulations and methods for preparing highly compactable granulations are disclosed. More particularly, highly compactable calcium carbonate granulations are disclosed. The granulations comprise powdered materials such as calcium carbonate that have small median particle sizes. The disclosed granulations are useful in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical tableting and provide smaller tablet sizes upon compression than previously available.

A method of producing a surface-treated carbon black powder dispersion includes subjecting carbon black fine particles having a volume average particle size of 100 nm to 20 μm to wet granulation and drying by heating to obtain granulated carbon black having a hardness of 12 cN or less and a pH of less than 7, grinding the granulated carbon black to obtain a ground product having a volume average particle size of 20 nm to 20 μm, and subjecting the ground product to wet oxidization in an aqueous medium. The resulting surface-treated carbon black powder dispersion exhibits excellent print density, print quality, discharge stability, and storage stability when used as an inkjet printer aqueous black ink.

A process for the production of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate out of trona, comprising crushing trona ore and dissolving it in a leaching tank containing a solution comprising sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, and an additive selected from the group consisting of: phosphates, phospholipids, carboxylates, carboxilic acids, and combinations thereof, saturated in sodium bicarbonate, in order to produce solid particles suspended in a production solution comprising sodium carbonate, the solid particles containing insoluble impurities and at least 65% by weight of sodium bicarbonate. The solid particles are separated from the production solution containing sodium carbonate. At least part of the production solution containing sodium carbonate is taken out of the leaching tank.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing composite carbon fibers in which two or more carbon fibers are dispersed in a nearly homogenous state, the composite carbon fibers capable of being easily dispersed in a matrix such as a resin without leaving aggregate, and imparting low resistance. Disclosed is a method for producing composite carbon fibers, which comprises imparting a cavitation effect to slurry containing 6% by mass or less of two or more carbon fibers each having a different average fiber diameter under a pressure of 100 MPa or more and less than 245 MPa thereby to form a composite.

Provided is a method and an apparatus for purifying potassium nitrate from the solid waste produced by a chemical glass-strengthening process. In the method, the solid waste is melted into a liquid waste at first. Potassium nitrate of various purity grades can be obtained by batch processing the liquid waste through stepwise cooling processes of cooling the liquid waste to a first temperature facilitating the potassium nitrate contained in the liquid waste to be crystallized at a first rate and then cooling the liquid waste to a second temperature close to the freezing point of the potassium nitrate at a second rate that is slower than the first rate. The recovered potassium nitrate from the solid waste can be recycled and reused.

An application of carbon nanotubes on agglomerates of ore fines to increase the mechanical strength is provided. A process for the preparation of ore agglomerates having enhanced mechanical strength by the application of the carbon nanotubes is also provided.

The present invention provides a kiln for the combustion of agricultural waste. The kiln includes a central cylindrical combustion chamber. The central cylindrical combustion chamber includes a system for the control of combustion air to the combustion chamber. The kiln includes a second concentric cylinder surrounding the central cylindrical combustion chamber. The second concentric cylinder includes a system for the flow of cooling water through the first annulus between the central cylindrical combustion chamber and the second concentric cylinder. The kiln includes a system for the feeding of the agricultural waste into the central combustion chamber. The kiln includes a temperature sensing device to measure and display the temperature within the central combustion chamber during the combustion of the agricultural waste. The kiln includes a system for the recovery of ash from the kiln. In operation, the temperature of combustion is controlled to between 550° C. and 650° C. by a combination of increasing the supply of combustion air when the temperature in the central combustion chamber falls to near 550° C. and the introduction of cooling flowing water when the temperature in the central combustion chamber approaches 600° C.

Catalyst activator, in particular, a catalyst activator for heat conditioning a catalyst. The activator includes a vessel for containing a catalyst charge having an internal diameter of at least 1.2 meters and/or an internal volume of at least 5 m3; a fluidisation grid plate disposed in the vessel, the fluidisation grid plate having an upper major surface and a lower major surface; an array of generally conical depressions in the upper major surface that overlap by less than 17%; and an array of holes perforating the fluidisation grid plate, the holes extending from at least some of the generally conical depressions through the lower surface.

No, Weed Does Not Cure the Virus To a degree perhaps not before seen in modern history, the COVID-19 pandemic is revealing a lot of people and institutions for what they really are, good and bad. Cold, hard reality has a way of doing that.…

Fremont high school student Araav Patel has got you covered. Plus, union says whistblower fired, and governor plans for the end of lockdown. Araav Patel lives in a household containing several people at greater risk from COVID-19. The Fremont high school student lives with his parents and grandparents, and suffers personally from a heart condition.…

More than a month since officials closed schools due to Covid-19, California leaders said a two-week blitz led by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom has brought in 70,000 computers and other devices that will be distributed to needy students this week. Gov. Gavin Newsom has stressed the importance of distance learning and education multiple times during the past month—even talking about helping his own children with school work.…

It might just be a distinction without a difference. Is cannabis really an "essential" business? The food business obviously is. But the legal cannabis industry didn't exist a few years ago, while gathering and making food — contrary to the popular cliché about prostitution — is the world's oldest profession.…

An electromechanical transducer, including: one or more first mechanical resonator structures having respective first fundamental oscillation resonance frequencies; and a second mechanical resonator structure including one or more electromechanical transducer components, and having a second fundamental oscillation resonance frequency that is substantially greater than the first fundamental resonance frequencies of the first mechanical resonator structures; wherein oscillations of the first mechanical resonator structures driven by external mechanical vibrations cause the first mechanical resonator structures to intermittently couple with the second resonating structure to drive oscillations of the second resonating structure such that the electromechanical transducer components of the second mechanical resonator structure convert the oscillations of the second resonating structure to electrical energy or signals.

An electrical voltage-generating piezoelectric device comprising at least a first blade (1) with a curved portion (10) defining a first arm (11) and a second arm (12) of the blade, the first arm (11) being intended to be fastened to a fixed support, the second arm (12) being substantially flat and having a free end (120) designed to oscillate around its resting position under the effect of mechanical force, at least one piezoelectric element (31) resting upon one of the main surfaces (14) of the second arm (12) of the first blade. The device also includes a second blade (2) identical in structure to the first blade (1), the first arms (11, 21) of the first and second blades (1, 2) being fastened together on all or part of their surfaces and being fixed relative to each other.

A system and method provides a piezoelectric stack arrangement for reduced driving voltage while maintaining a driving level for active piezoelectric materials. A stack arrangement of d36 shear mode single crystals of both air X-cut and Y-cut ±1:45° (±20°) arrangement are bonded with discrete conductive pillars to form a shear crystal stack. The bonding area between the neighboring crystal parts is minimized. The bonding pillars are positioned at less than a total surface are of the single crystal forming the stack. The stack fabrication is facilitated with a precision assembly system, where crystal parts are placed to desired locations on an assembly fixture for alignment following the preset operation steps. With the reduced clamping effect from bonding due to lower surface coverage of the discrete conductive pillars, such a piezoelectric d36 shear crystal stack exhibits a reduced driving voltage while maintaining a driving level and substantial and surprisingly improved performance.

A vibration motor includes a base portion arranged to extend perpendicularly to a central axis extending in a vertical direction; a shaft having a lower end fixed to the base portion, and arranged to project upward along the central axis; a circuit board; a coil portion; a bearing portion; a rotor holder; a magnet portion; an eccentric weight; a cover portion; and a motor electrode portion electrically connected to the circuit board, and arranged to project downward below a lower surface of the base portion. The entire base portion and the entire circuit board are arranged inside of an outer circumferential edge of a lower end of the cover portion.

The invention provides a rotating electrical machine system in which an air volume of a refrigerant is increased near the center of a rotating electrical machine in the axial direction is improved. The rotating electrical machine includes a rotor and a stator, in which the stator core, laminated electromagnetic steel sheets formed by laminating a plurality of electromagnetic steel sheets in the axial direction are divided into a plurality of sets of packet cores, and between one of the packet cores of the plurality of sets and another packet core adjacent to it, there is formed a duct providing a flow channel of the stator, and in a duct situated at the center side from both ends in the axial direction among the duct, there is a portion of two packet cores facing each other across the duct, a diameter direction length of the two packet cores becoming long.

Methods and systems for using the Earth's magnetic field to power a machine having a motor, the system including a computer, a plurality of wires, a plurality of energy storing devices, all in controlled electrical communication with each other, wherein the plurality of wires can collect electrical energy from the Earth's magnetic field while the machine is put in motion by a power source powering the motor, wherein the collected electrical energy is stored in the plurality of energy storing devices or used to power the motor.

An inflatable bonnet cap system for wrapping around a user's hair featuring an inflatable headpiece with a series of inflatable horizontal and vertical tubes, each horizontal tube has connectors and a valve for inflation, and a spring ring having a spring ring tube constructed with accordion-style seams, the spring ring tube has connectors with valves for inflation. An insert edge is on the bottom edge of the bottommost horizontal tube, and a wedge is disposed on the top surface of the spring ring tube. The insert edge can be accepted into the wedge of the spring ring tube. The system of is inflatable and retractable.

The disclosure provides a medical compression stocking applicator having an elongate member which has a pair of opposed sidewalls and an interconnecting wall and therefore may be substantially U-shaped in cross-section and is open at each end. The elongate member also includes a heel opening between the ends of the elongate member. The heel opening extends entirely through the elongate member, and is adapted to support a person's heel during application of a stocking.

The present invention relates to a visor cap. It is an aim of the present invention to provide a visor cap which can widen a sun blocking area through variable visors and which enables a wearer to adjust the sun-blocking area while improving wearing comfort. To accomplish the aim, provided is a visor cap including a main body, a fixed visor, and a pair of variable visors hinged to both sides of an upper surface or a lower surface of the fixed visor, so as to vary the sun-blocking area, wherein each of the pair of variable visors includes: a first variable visor portion which is made of a textile material and one side of which is fixed at an edge of the fixed visor; and a second variable visor portion which is made of a synthetic resin material and which is coupled to the other side of the first variable visor portion. The visor cap of the present invention is advantageous in that it enables a wearer to adjust the sun-blocking area if needed, and is prevented from contacting the skin of the wearer, thus improving is wearing comfort while expanding the sun-blocking area.

Physical treatment garment for aiding in treatment and healing of injured or strained muscles. Garment is made of flexible material that can be pulled up around the waist, such as compression shorts or full length tights or leggings, and the garment has one or more pockets in the thigh and/or hamstring area to hold cold packs or heat packs and have a fastener apparatus at the top. The garment has fastening apparatuses on or about the hip area and on or about just above the knee. Using a flexible or compression wrap with the compatible fastening apparatuses, the compression wrap is wrapped around the leg and/or groin area and secured using the fastening apparatuses. Pockets for ice or heat treatment are similarly located in the front or rear of the tights or leggings with fastening connections to hold ice or heat packs for treatment of the applicable injury.

Wraps for swaddling babies are provided that include a body having a base side. The wrap can further include two arms that are attached to the base side of the body of the wrap. The arms can extend outward in an opposite direction to one another along the base side of the body of the wrap. Related methods of using the wrap are also provided.

The invention relates to an electronic musical instrument system (1) for influencing the sound of an electric musical instrument having a housing (2) that has signal ports (14, 18) and a power supply port (15). In order to simplify the individual combination of different audio effects, the housing (2) contains control electronics (6) that have associated slots (4a-4f) for effects modules (19), wherein the slots (4a-4f) are arranged in the housing (2) and each slot (4a-4f) has a multipin connection (5a-5f) for connection to a plug-in effects module (19). The invention additionally relates to a corresponding effects module (19).

Presented is a method for controlling an electronic stringed instrument. Embodiments of electrical stringed instruments according to the present invention can be actual stringed instruments or virtual representations of stringed instruments. The methods provide a way in which to teach and play electronic stringed instruments which allow a novice musician to focus on a small portion of playing of a stringed instrument while maintaining overall musicality and ability to play the instrument.

An installation structure for an acoustic transducer configured to vibrate a vibrated body in a first direction so as to permit the vibrated body to generate sounds, wherein the acoustic transducer includes: a magnetic-path forming portion that forms a magnetic path; a vibrating unit configured to vibrate in the first direction; and a connecting unit connecting the vibrating unit and the vibrated body to transmit vibration of the vibrating unit to the vibrated body, wherein the magnetic-path forming portion has a through-hole penetrating therethrough in the first direction from a first opening to a second opening, the connecting unit passing through the through-hole, wherein the vibrating unit is disposed on a first-opening side of the magnetic-path forming portion and is fixed to the connecting unit on the first-opening side, and wherein the vibrated body is connected to the connecting unit on a second-opening side of the magnetic-path forming portion.

According to some aspects, a cymbal system is provided, comprising a cymbal, and a vibrational transducer magnetically coupled to the cymbal, the magnetic coupling provided by at least one magnetic component on an upper side of the cymbal and at least one magnetic component on a lower side of the cymbal. According to some aspects, a method for transducing vibrations of a cymbal is provided, comprising magnetically coupling a vibrational transducer to a cymbal, the magnetic coupling provided by at least one magnetic component on an upper side of the cymbal and at least one magnetic component on a lower side of the cymbal.

A musical drum having a hollow shell with at least one opening defined by a circumferential bearing edge, a drumhead, which includes an upper surface consisting of the batter head and a bottom surface, a snare assembly with a plurality of individual wires having opposite end portions, a mounting member affixed to at least one end portion, and means for releasably attaching the snare assembly to the circumferential bearing edge comprising a flexible U-shaped clip in engagement with the circumferential bearing edge in pressure-contact relation. The individual snare wires are disposed in abutment against the bottom surface of the drumhead to cause the wires to vibrate upon the striking of the batter head.

A stringed musical instrument including a body in which a cutaway is formed, wherein the body includes a back board on which at least one brace is provided so as to extend in a width direction of the back board, and wherein a first brace, which is the closest to the cutaway among the at least one brace, has a dimension in the width direction of the back board smaller than a width of the back board at a position of the back board at which the first brace is fixed, the first brace being fixed to the back board so as to be disposed nearer to one side of the back board than another side thereof on which the cutaway is formed.

A system for remotely generating sound from a musical instrument includes a calibration system to improve the quality of the sound produced by the musical instrument. In one embodiment, the system includes an input configured to receive a signal representative of the sound of a first musical instrument, an exciter for converting the signal to mechanical vibrations, a coupling interface for coupling the mechanical vibrations into a second musical instrument, and a calibration system for altering the signal sent to the exciter.

A method for converting textual messages to musical messages comprising receiving a text input and receiving a musical input selection. The method includes analyzing the text input to determine text characteristics and analyzing a musical input corresponding to the musical input selection to determine musical characteristics. Based on the text characteristic and the musical characteristic, the method includes correlating the text input with the musical input to generate a synthesizer input, and sending the synthesizer input to a voice synthesizer. The method includes receiving a vocal rendering of the text input from the voice synthesizer and generating a musical message from the vocal rendering and the musical input. The method includes generating a video element based on a video input, incorporating the video element into the musical message, and outputting the musical message including the video element.

A method and system for teaching oneself to learn to play a string instrument and master it by analyzing one's real-time hand/finger movement/technique/form, enabling oneself to progress and correct one's own mistakes simultaneously. In one aspect, a system for learning to play a string instrument is provided that includes a simulation instrument that includes a plurality of strings, wherein at least one of the strings includes at least one-touch sensing sensor thereon in communication with at least one processor to receive a signal from the at least one touch-sensing sensor and determine therefrom when and where on the at least one string a user applies pressure to the at least one string.

An acoustic drum kit including a bass drum, a snare drum and a hi-hat stand, the base drum including two parts that are movable with respect to one another between a spaced-apart position, in which the snare drum is fixed removably to the bass drum and to the hi-hat stand such that the drum kit is in a playing configuration, and a compact position, in which the snare drum and the hi-hat stand are housed inside the bass drum, between the two parts thereof, such that the drum kit is in a storage and transport configuration.

A delay time counter in a DSP cyclically counts a sampling clock from zero to a delay time sampling count and issues a delay time interrupt to a CPU each time the sampling clock count reaches the delay time sampling count. The CPU measures a time difference between each time the DSP issues the delay time interrupt and each time sequence clock interrupts occur a number of times corresponding to the delay time. Then, in order to reduce this time difference, the CPU increases or decreases a maximum count that is set to the sequence clock counter. Therefore, in the next delay process, the shift between the time by which the automatic performance is advanced by the CPU (which is equal to the delay time) and the timing of the delay process executed by the DSP (which is also equal in length to the delay time) will be corrected.